Battery system and method for the operation thereof

Abstract

A battery system, in particular for a motor vehicle, to a power supply comprising the battery system for an electric machine, in particular a vehicle drive, and to a method for charging the battery system.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A power supply for a vehicle drive electric machine comprising:
 a battery system including:
 at least two modules, each module having at least two cells connected in series, a positive pole, and a negative pole; 
 a first interface having a number of connections equal to double the number of the at least two modules; and 
 conductors that connect the positive poles and the negative poles to respective connections on the first interface, wherein the conductors that connect the positive poles of the modules to the first interface each have a switch, which is open when the associated connection of the first interface is open; 
 
 a second interface having the same number of connections as the first interface of the battery system; 
 a number of fuses corresponding to a number of modules in the battery system reduced by one; and 
 a converter; 
 wherein each connection of the second interface is connected to a respective connection of the first interface, and each fuse is connected to a respective positive pole of one of the modules of the battery system and to a respective negative pole of another of the modules of the battery system such that all the modules of the battery system are connected in series by the fuses, and wherein two remaining connections of the second interface are connected to an input of the converter. 
 
     
     
       2. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the battery system is a high-voltage (HV) battery system. 
     
     
       3. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein a sum of voltages of the at least two modules is greater than 800 V. 
     
     
       4. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first interface is a high-voltage (HV) plug connector. 
     
     
       5. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the switches are embodied as electrically or electronically operated switches. 
     
     
       6. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the converter comprises an inverter. 
     
     
       7. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the converter comprises a step-down converter. 
     
     
       8. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fuses is a safety fuse. 
     
     
       9. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fuses is an electronic fuse. 
     
     
       10. The power supply as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first interface and the second interface together form a high-voltage (HV) plug connection. 
     
     
       11. A method for charging a battery system, the method comprising:
 connecting at least one charging device to at least one module of the battery system, wherein the battery system includes:
 at least two modules, each module having at least two cells connected in series, a positive pole, and a negative pole; 
 a first interface having a number of connections equal to double the number of the at least two modules; and 
 conductors that connect the positive poles and the negative poles to respective connections on the first interface, wherein the conductors that connect the positive poles of the modules to the first interface each have a switch, which is open when the associated connection of the first interface is open; and 
 
 charging the battery system, wherein:
 a plurality of charging devices are in each case connected simultaneously to at least one module and the modules connected to the charging devices are charged simultaneously. 
 
 
     
     
       12. The method as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein a number of charging devices is equal to a number of modules in the battery system.